


Once Again Is Not The Same As Another Chance

by myheartsegg



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Baymax is cool, Family Feels, Gen, Not quite sure how this is gonna work out, Revival fic, lots of fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-13
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-02-25 07:12:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2612948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myheartsegg/pseuds/myheartsegg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Really, Hiro didn't see it coming. Not with it being a year after Tadashi's death. He had moved on; he had accepted circumstances as they were and had gone on to do better things. He was the hero of San Fransokyo now. But after this sudden twist in fate, Hiro's not sure if he wants to go back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Awake From The Dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hello, I am Myheartsegg. *Baymax wave* I am your local Big Hero 6 fanfiction writer. I seem to have gotten a suggestion for a beta, so I would like to express my thanks to The Glass Sea for becoming my own personal beta reader companion!

"Hiro, wake up! We're gonna be late!"

The young genius stirred from unconsciousness, brows scrunching and mouth turning down at the corners into a small scowl.

"Leave me alone," the younger Hamada mumbled. "The college isn't until later, Aunt Cass. I can still sleep in a little more!"

Hiro twisted the blankets up and above his head, turning into a little caterpillar made out of synthetic cotton.

"Hiro, I said...  _Wake up!_ "

There was a harsh tug on his makeshift cocoon, and Hiro struggled to hold onto the pathetic remains of his haven. He pulled what was left of it above his head in attempt to block out what little light he could.

It was as the cold air bit at his skin, Hiro realized something: Aunt Cass' voice was not that...  **manly**.

Slowly - eyes wide and a bit frightened - Hiro's hold on the little corner of the blanket he still had in his grasp slackened.

Peeking over his hand fisted in the comforter, the younger Hamada gaped in shock.

There, in all his uninjured glory, was Tadashi Hamada, standing unburned and..  _Undead_.


	2. You'd Think It Was A Nightmare

A/N: I am so mad with myself! I had the perfect chapter and the perfect ending too! But my internet was being a dick and I lost all my data! *cries* I am so sorry. Here, have this horrible chapter rewrite instead... *runs away*

* * *

When Hiro meant that Tadashi was undead, he didn't mean his brother was a green, drooling, flaking-skinned zombie. No, he meant that Tadashi was literally, undead; as in -  _NOT DEAD_.

Even more specifically, his older brother was living, breathing, and looked exactly as Hiro remembered him before he died: his skin was a healthy tan colour and there was a sort of vitality to him that both warmed the younger Hamada and chilled him to the bone with an eerie, unsettled feeling.

Tadashi's expression was borderline irritated and halfway excited and Hiro couldn't help but stare openly, his mouth hanging loosely and his eyes roving over every feature of his brother's face and body. The person standing in front of him was undoubtedly and without mistake, his older brother: alive and in the flesh.

Hiro felt as if his heart had stopped. (If Baymax were here to see him, he would've scanned him and then proceeded to try and treat the teen. Probably with the defibrillators... Definitely the defibrillators.)

There was a stretch of silence that could have rivaled the length of the Great Wall of Texhai. The excitement began to die from his brother's eyes, and he could see the worry start to cloud those sparkling brown orbs in a way that made Hiro's stomach twist painfully.

"Hiro...?" Tadashi asked him lowly, tilting his head to better look his brother in the eyes.

"..."

The first thing that Hiro did when his genius brain managed to unfreeze from its stupor was to take a large, stuttering breath.

The second thing that Hiro did as his muscles started functioning again was  _scream_.

His older brother startled so bad, he stumbled into the opposite wall facing the younger Hamada's bed, bumping into the large mecha clock that hung there. "Whoa-! Hiro! What's wrong? Why are you screaming like that?!"

Hearing the other's familiar voice only added to Hiro's near-hysteria, and his screams rose in pitch as he scrambled further back on his bed, limbs flailing. His older brother pressed a hand to his ear, the opposite shoulder coming up to block out the noise. Tadashi raised the other hand in a placating gesture, a confused and absolutely concerned expression settling on his face.

The sound of thundering steps alerted Tadashi that Hiro's screams had woken up Aunt Cass, and all of a sudden, the older Hamada wasn't sure he wanted their aunt to see this scene.

Hiro was curled up in a defensive ball, shallow intakes of air coming and going as fast as Gogo on wheels. Round, fearful brown orbs fixed him to the spot, and with the way his brother's trembling hands grasped and ungrasped at his T-shirt, Tadashi knew that Hiro was lapsing into an anxiety attack.

The teen looked like a spooked animal. The older Hamada knew his brother had been through his share of anxiety attacks before - Tadashi was no stranger to spending long nights trying to comfort his sibling after nightmares of high school bullies plagued his sleep. But never before were those anxious eyes turned on him.

Cass stumbled into the shared room of her nephews, missing the last step on the stairs. Tadashi moved hastily to help her up, gripping her tightly by her bicep.

"What- What's going on!? Tadashi, why is Hiro screaming?!" His aunt turned her frantic gaze to him, eyes slightly wild, and Tadashi could see his reflection in her wide eyes. His expression mirrored hers perfectly, and now he was even more unsure if he was qualified to answer that question on his brother's behalf.

The older Hamada looked back to his sibling and shook his head without taking his eyes off of him, answering: "I don't know. I tried waking him up, but he suddenly started screaming!"

He had to shout slightly to be heard over Hiro's intermediate wails, and Tadashi absently noticed that the closer he tried to get, the louder the screams. The young adult turned a desperate look to his aunt. With a silent nod, she slowly shuffled over to his younger sibling, shushing and tutting in a motherly manner.

"Hiro, sweetie, calm down." Hiro was smooshed up against the headboard of his small bed, looking disbelievingly between his brother and aunt as she approached. Why wasn't she freaking out? Didn't she see him? Tadashi was standing right there and-

"I need you to calm down. Breathe -  _please_." Hiro sucked in a breath, letting it gust back out in an unsteady shudder.

"That's it, calm down; breathe... In, and out." Cass ran a soothing hand over her youngest nephew's back, taking in his tearing eyes and tight mouth. There was a pinched tension that hard-lined his posture and for some reason, Cass had an odd feeling she'd gone through this. "Hiro, sweetie, would it help if I warmed you up a little?"

Baymax's automated voice piped up in Hiro's head.  _'Scan complete. You seem to be suffering from the rapid inhale and exhale of oxygen as well as high levels of stress. Diagnosis: Anxiety attack. I suggest you take slow, deep breaths to calm yourself. Will it will benefit you, Hiro, if I warmed you up?'_

The teen could already feel the ghosting heat of a vinyl-warmed inflatable bot cradling him gently, and hear the electrical humming that was unique to Baymax. The wave of comfort was momentarily stripped away and replaced with a sort of apprehension when movement across the room caught his attention.

Hiro glanced at his brother with a flash of terrified eyes and saw the flicker of hurt pass behind the taut lips and worried orbs.

"-Hiro?" Cass said gently.

The teen startled and blinked twice, readjusting his eyes to the proximity of his aunt. "A-Aunt Cass... What...?" Hiro wasn't quite sure how to phrase the question without sounding weird. What happened? What was Tadashi doing here?

All those questions sounded reasonable to him, but from the look that Aunt Cass directed at his brother, and through the interaction earlier, it told him enough information to know that this Aunt Cass was not freaking out about Tadashi and most probably wouldn't get what he was referring to if he decided to interrogate her.

Meaning, this wasn't his aunt and that wasn't his brother.

Hiro's tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and his throat ran dry. He wriggled uncomfortably in Cass' hold, making her drop her arms from around him. That was right. He shouldn't get his hopes up. There had be an explanation:

A hallucination? A dream? Was everything he went through just that? A dream?

A warm hand made him jump, and the imploring gazes from both his aunt and brother made his throat's constriction tighten a little. Dream people were not that warm.

"How... How long was I... asleep for?" He asked haltingly in favour of answering the real question that hung in the air.

Cass looked at him funny. "You've been asleep since last night, sweetie; you went off to bed at ten."

The look that Tadashi shot him from behind Aunt Cass' back meant that he had actually stayed up all night with probably only a few hours of any substantial rest.

"Today's your big presentation at the Institute," Cass continued, smiling widely in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I'm so proud of you two, my little college men!" She pinched Hiro's cheeks and beamed with unabashed pride at both him and his brother standing across the room.

Meanwhile, Hiro's mind swam in confusion. The Institute? What presentation? He'd been admitted into the college a year ago!

The teen's genius mind caught up with the questions as soon as they were thought up, and a stab of horror went through Hiro as a million scenarios buzzed behind his eyes. The presentation... Tadashi alive... No. That wasn't-

No no no no no. The fire- Tadashi's death- Callaghan and Krei- All of it...

"I-" Hiro started, sounding a little breathless. He paused, unsure what to say. This situation... Finally with a sort of resignation, he settled with, "Yeah, thanks Aunt Cass. I'll break a leg."

An awkward shush fell over them. Was he wrong? This scenario should have been-

"So... What's up?" Hiro choked out, pulling on a mask of shifting eyes and a gap-toothed, lopsided grin to feign normality while his brain raced to figure out what was happening.

"What's up? What's up with  _you_?" Tadashi asked airily, tone unaccusing and slightly distressed. Thankfully, his brother had not moved from his spot near the first step of the stairs and farthest away from his scrunched position on the bed.

Hiro's breath caught in his throat. The teen's eyes shifted nervously from Tadashi to his aunt, and down to the wood flooring. There was a moment of silence in which Hiro couldn't speak -  _couldn't_  make a sound.

Aunt Cass' eyebrows furrowed with worry before she seemingly came to an insight. The lady smiled benignly and stood from the bed, the mattress bouncing a little as she got up. The sudden movement jostled the skittish teen and he scrambled uncharacteristically to grab her sleeve.

Her eyes widened a bit at the odd move, but she gently detached his hands from the hem of her shirt and left with a soft sigh - though not before giving a reassuring pat to Hiro's shoulder, and the parting words that she was closing up shop for today and would give them a ride to the Institute, so they should hurry up and get ready, unless they wanted to start making her stress eat again.

With her exit, the air turned stiffling and heavy, and for a minute or two (was it seconds?), Hiro thought he would suffocate. Tadashi had not moved from his spot by the stairs, but the fourteen year old could feel his brother observing him - patiently waiting for him to speak up.

(The youngest Hamada belatedly realized that his elder sibling was actually blocking the only exit.  _Gulp._ )

Hiro cleared his throat awkwardly in the silence. "I-... I think..." The words were stuck again and something cold squeezed painfully at his chest. The teen's eyelids fluttered without blinking, focused on a point across the room.

There was something that he needed to confirm before he came to any conclusions. If this was real...

Taking a steadying breath, Hiro got up from his hunched position on the bed and slipped his feet silently to the cold floor. A shudder ran through him; it felt like butterflies were squirming restlessly around his diaphragm.

Standing on trembling legs, the younger Hamada clutched at the hem of his sleeping shirt and slowly - cautiously - looked up.

He needed to know; to see for himself if this was  _his_  Tadashi; his older brother, his father figure, his best friend- his  _rock_. Hiro withheld a whimper. It was painful to run his eyes so thoroughly over the person standing before him - the person who no less was supposed to be  _dead_.

It caused a spark of hope and despair to clash within Hiro. On one hand, he hoped with all his heart that this person standing in front of him was Tadashi; his older brother alive and well. But on the other hand, despair hung to him like a ghost. What if this wasn't him? He'd have gotten his hopes up for nothing.

 _I shouldn't hope,_  Hiro thought absently.  _It's been a year and I'm done with it all. The grieving, the venting, the anger, the healing - I've put this behind me._

But it was all there; the short black hair tucked under that familiar black baseball cap; the long, thin face with high cheekbones; the shape of those eyebrows and the curve of his mouth; those stupid ears that stuck out so prominently; and those eyes - brown and warm and always silently reassuring Hiro that  _I'll never give up on you, never._

The teen's gaze never left his sibling's face, even as he wobbled unsteadily in the direction of his supposedly deceased older brother. Seeing his effort, Tadashi met him half way, but hesitated when small, shaking hands pressed to his shoulders.

"Hiro-" The elder Hamada paused in surprise, his arms hovering uncertainly around his sibling when his little brother did something he wasn't expecting.

With bated breath, Hiro pressed his ear above the left side of Tadashi's chest, straining his ears for the proof that this wasn't a dream - that this was real. That hope beyond hope, his brother was  _alive_.

A stupefied expression crossed Hiro's face and hot trails burned down his cheeks, blurring his vision because that was it: that was the sound - the steady  _Ba-thump, Ba-thump, Ba-thump_  of his brother's heart.

Tadashi flinched at the wetness soaking into his shirt, and could only stare dazedly when his little brother laughed gleefully, a triumphant grin stretching his lips when the elder's heartbeat picked up from the sight of his crying face. Without warning, the laugh turned into a sob, and the sob into a choked splutter and Tadashi could do nothing but wrap his arms around his sibling, hoping to keep him in one piece, even as Hiro broke at the seams in his grasp.

When the crying softened, Tadashi tried for an explanation. "Hiro, what-?" he whispered quietly, only to get cut off by an equally quiet voice and thin, bony arms wrapping tightly around his waist. Tadashi fell silent, and listened for all he was worth.

"I think," Hiro interrupted, voice cracking with emotion. A dry and relieved laugh escaped him. "-That I just had the worst nightmare of my life."


	3. Doubts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For clarification: The schedule of the showcase from Hiro's Journal shows that the exhibitor sign-in is at 8:00am and the exhibitor demonstrations start from 11:00am-2:00pm.

Following right after Hiro's morning mental breakdown, Tadashi noticed immediately that his brother was trailing after him like a duckling.

It wasn't that he didn't like it - no, on the contrary, if it meant Hiro was kept out of trouble, Tadashi welcomed it. It was just that it worried him; to have his little brother so openly dependent on him.

Hiro was a proud kid - he'd puff up his chest and huff importantly when he could. But this meek following made the older Hamada wonder just what kind of nightmare his sibling had seen.

Whenever he brought up the subject though, the teen would frown and his eyes would drift off into the distance before he would refocus and refuse to tell Tadashi a single detail with a silent shake of his head. It was starting to unnerve the young adult.

Tadashi had caught himself more than once sending worried glances at him when he thought Hiro wasn't looking.

Another thing that caught Tadashi's attention was that Hiro seemed...  _older_ , and more mature. It was as if he had gone through an entire life's worth of lessons in just a single night.

Again, thought the elder of the two - unnerving.

Tadashi knew this wasn't the time to worry (the older Hamada found that hard to do, especially when it came to anything Hiro related); they were going to be late for the exhibitor sign-in at SFIT.

For now, Tadashi let the subject drop.  _Hiro will tell me when he's ready_ , he repeated in his head as he ran to catch the passing cable car.

...  _Right?_

* * *

The whole time he was getting ready for that morning, Hiro's mind was spinning wildly with details of calculations, speculations, hypotheses, and educated guesses.

A little voice in his head told him he should just accept the reality - all of his experiences were dreams - but two things in particular nagged at him: the realism and the repetition.

The dream world had slapped him awake and then left behind phantom senses that lingered on his skin, reminding him of things that weren't supposed to be there.

Not to mention that the waking world was corresponding with the unconscious one. The way that everything was going along just as he remembered it – despite the little disruption of this morning's mental breakdown - was putting Hiro on edge, making him acutely aware of every action he did and every word he said.

There was the lingering fear of making the same mistakes as the ones in his memories - particularly one mistake in question.

And that one  ** _big_**  mistake he had made in his dreams (they were closer to nightmares now that he thought about it) was weighing heavily on his consciousness.

Hiro ran simulations in his head, pondering what choice of action he could take, even if most of them seemed irrational. So far, he had three half-formed ideas:

 _Should I destroy the microbots?_  The teen asked himself. His brows came together in a frown. That would put all the hard work everyone invested into helping him to waste. He didn't want to offend them even before he became proper friends with them.

Next.

 _Run away with the bots and refuse to show up to the convention?_  Hiro shook his head, hands on his hips and face tilted down as if the floor of his bedroom could give him some answers. That was too suspicious and he didn't want to make his family worry.

He'd probably get a scolding from Tadashi (he didn't miss those as much as he thought he would) and make Aunt Cass stress-eat after he returned from pulling such a stunt. Besides, where would he hide all those containers? Much less move them all by himself?

The younger Hamada huffed. Sure he could use the neural-cranial transmitter to move the microbots, but he doubted anyone would overlook a swarm of high-tech mini bots sweeping through the busy streets of San Fransokyo.

Next.

 _Feign ill and try again the next year with a different invention?_  Hiro's right eyebrow lifted and he began to pace, left hand tucked under his armpit and the right cradling his chin as he thought. This was plausible - especially after the fit he had upon seeing Tadashi.

The teen hummed in thought. With what little time he had left, this could actually work.

Hiro glanced at the giant mecha-themed clock hanging on the middle wall of the Hamada's shared bedroom. The time read 7:32am. They needed to be at the college at eight.

Throughout his introspective pondering and slow, half-assed attempts at pulling on proper clothes, Tadashi was flying around the room behind him, muttering vague Japanese curses underneath his breath as he struggled to pull on a cardigan and jeans simultaneously.

" _Kusooo_ , we're late... I can't believe we're late!" Tadashi groaned.

The young adult stomped down the stairs, stopping halfway to twist his upper body and call back to Hiro. To his surprise, the younger Hamada was already trailing behind him, cargo shorts on, but pajama top unchanged. His hair was still uncombed and though it was usually a fluffy bird's nest, today it seemed wilder.

Tadashi abruptly came to a halt when he saw the not-quite-there look in his brother's eyes. Bounding back up two steps the way he came, the older brother roughly scrubbed one of his hands through Hiro's hair. "Hey bonehead, when are you gonna wake up?"

The younger pushed his arm off with an indignant, " _Hey! Don't mess with my hair!_ _"_  and Tadashi chuckled. That was the little brother he knew.

He waited until they reached the floor of the kitchen before pulling Hiro in for a noogie, his right arm slung around the teen's slim shoulders and his left fist rubbing into his skull. "As if this isn't your usual look. You should get a hair cut already."

Hiro snarked back, "And risk looking like you? No thanks."

Despite the harsh comment, there was a smirk on his face and a twinkle back in his eyes. Tadashi beamed.

"So what's got you so preoccupied?" he started conversationally. "Worried for the presentation tonight?"

Hiro shook his head dismissively and shot him a cheeky look. "I've got that in the bag. That letter of recommendation has my name pre-printed on it."

"I'm sure it does," Tadashi laughed, elbowing Hiro's arm lightly. "But don't be so cocky about it."

The younger of the two grinned, but the wide smile quickly turned into a small frown.

Noticing it, Tadashi's own smile disappeared and he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. He ignored the way the limb tensed and raised a little underneath it, as if wanting to shirk his hand off. "Hey, if it's not that, is it the nightmare? Is that what's bothering you?" he tried softly.

The atmosphere suddenly sobered and Hiro shook his head. The older brother barely resisted the urge to sigh. It was like this the whole morning - despite all of his questioning, Hiro had remained quiet.

Tadashi felt almost desperate for answers now. Hiro was always his number one concern; Hiro's health and well-being was always the top of his priority and not knowing was making him feel antsy.

A hollow feeling of uselessness clung to a little place in Tadashi's chest. "What was it about? Was it realistic? Losing a bot fight? Not getting into the institute?"

Tadashi was met with silence.

"Was... Was I in it?" he asked, a picture frozen in time of Hiro's frightened eyes looking back at him flashing in his vision briefly.

That earned him a twitch. Tadashi's eyebrows furrowed at the reaction. The nightmare was about him?

"What did I do? Did I hurt you? What-"

"Just drop it okay?" Hiro interrupted. The exhaustion in his voice was hidden pretty well, but it was still there. The teen's mouth pinched with guilt and he nervously rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from his brother.

"I don't-... Don't want to talk about it right now," he finished lamely. A quiet huff slipped out of him and he turned towards the stairs. It wasn't the nightmares that made Hiro's smile lose its radiance, but Tadashi didn't need to know that.

The older Hamada watched as his brother disappeared down the last flight of steps and onto the first floor of their three story building that hosted the café part of the house. Tadashi sighed before turning around and going back up the stairs to find a proper shirt for his brother and Hiro's favourite hoodie.

* * *

Hiro was scared. The way he fell so easily into the old routine with Tadashi was unsettling. He would have thought seeing his brother like this again would have changed something in him, but it was the same as ever. His older brother making fun of him while cheering him up at the same time; being his emotional support even without asking -  _worrying_  about him when he didn't need to.

Maybe it was because of the nightmare - after all, his brother's death was a part of it, right? Why  _shouldn't_  he be used to interacting with his brother? It wasn't like that one year without him had actually happened...

The teen still couldn't shake the feeling that everything that happened was real. And that meant that Hiro couldn't tell his brother about his dreams - not yet.

Everything was all mixed up and he wasn't sure he could give a concrete answer. There was no certain reality for Hiro right now.  _Everything_  – both his dreams and the right now he was in – all of it was real to him. The touches, the tastes, the sounds, the sights, the  _warmth_...

With all the sensations assaulting him, Hiro couldn't make out up from down. The feeling of being lost in an intellectual way was not something the teen was used to, but being in this situation stumped him.

If everything felt real, then how could he say for sure that only one of them was-

A figurative light bulb flashed in Hiro's head. If he couldn't accept one as a dream, then all he'd have to do was make two realities. The teen almost smiled to himself. This was a theory his brain could wrap around.

Having two realities narrowed his world down to one of two options: The first reality was the "dream" where Tadashi had died and Hiro had become a superhero after defeating Callaghan.

The second reality was that the first was actually a dream and none of it had actually happened.

And unfortunately, if the first was true, why was Tadashi alive? Had he gone back in time? Why did no one remember but him? Hiro grimaced. At least it would explain the vivid memories and phantom emotions.

Even more worrying, was that if the second scenario was true, then there was no one in this "reality" that could prove it  _wasn't_  a dream; nor could anyone explain why things were replaying exactly how he remembered, despite not following the script right off the bat.

Hiro pulled at his bangs in frustration – a habit he had picked up when he was overloaded with work being a superhero and a fourteen-turning-fifteen-year-old super genius attending college – and groaned.

Nothing made sense and all this guestimating was getting him nowhere. He needed proof - solid and honest proof.

Aunt Cass' voice broke him out of his thoughts, the loud, " _Boys, come for breakfast!_ "reaching him from behind the café's bakery doors. There was the bang of pans and Hiro assumed his aunt had just finished a new batch of her famous donuts.

Hiro's hand touched the little side door that led to the back of the counter just as he saw a customer get up from the end of the restaurant. The man was wearing a brown sweater with a yellow shirt underneath and large-framed black glasses.

The teen froze, a serious sense of déjà-vu overwhelming him. Didn't this guy-?

"Hi, can I get a medium coffee, two cream, two sugar?" he asked, peering into the little window that showed the inside of the bakery's kitchen.

Hiro snapped out of his daze and opened the little side door to sidle up behind the cash register. "Medium coffee, two cream, two sugar. Is that all sir?" the teen asked.

The guy blinked at Hiro in shock. He mouthed something close to, ' _He's so tiny_ ' before he cleared his throat and grunted a negative.

Hiro turned to the Hamada Caffeination Delivery System and pressed the button for the specified beverage. Hiro had helped enough in the café to know that people needed their caffeine in the morning – and quick.

The teen handed the man the freshly made coffee and accepted the trade off of money. Now it was only a matter of time...

The man almost made it back to his window seat before Mochi crossed his path. The poor guy's foot got caught under the cat's belly, and with a shout, he fell face first to the floor.

Hiro felt a bubble of laughter rise in his throat and he would have laughed out loud too, if only he didn't find the repeated event kind of scary. So he was right – things were repeating.

Meaning that Aunt Cass would rush out-

Cue his aunt pushing the kitchen door open with a loud bang and coming out from behind the counter and handing the fallen man a wad of tissue papers to wipe himself with.

And say-

"Oh my goodness! I am  _so sorry_  about my cat! I'll give you another coffee – on the house."

Yep. He knew it. This also meant...

"Hiro, sweetie, can you-" Aunt Cass turned around to ask the teen still standing behind the cash register to make another coffee, only to be met face-to-face with another freshly made and still steaming cup. "-make another coffee..."

Cass' eyes flicked up to Hiro's unassuming expression. One eyebrow lifted at his strange behaviour. "That was quick," she commented, taking the cup out of his hands with a thanks and offering it up to the spluttering guy.

The younger Hamada shrugged. "Eh, I just had a feeling."

He turned on his heel and disappeared behind the bakery's doors, leaving a puzzled Cass and an irate man still sprawled out on the floor.

As soon as the kitchen doors closed behind him, Hiro pressed his back to it and shivered. So his dreams were coming true. Haha, no biggie.

The teen sagged as he let out a shaky breath.

Who was he kidding?

Walking over to the abandoned tray left on the flour-caked table, he picked up a warm donut and bit into it. Hiro munched slowly as he contemplated his situation. He wasn't aware that the more the thought, the faster he chewed.

On his third donut, Hiro paused as he bit into the cream-filled center of a Boston cream. Holding a fist up to his mouth, the teen gulped down the sweet confectionery. It looked like he had picked up Aunt Cass' bad habit of stress eating – ugh.

Well, he'd already touched it, so he had to finish it. The teen cringed, but quickly pricked up when he noticed voices outside the kitchen.

 _"Aunt Cass, where's Hiro? He still has his pajama shirt on."_  Hiro heard his brother call out. The teen looked down and blushed. He was still in his robo-jams, the little bots running diagonally in a pattern down his chest and arms.

Ugh, how embarrassing! He had even served that hipster guy coffee while in his pajamas! A palm made its way to his face.

 _"Hiro went into the kitchen. But before that, Tadashi, have some breakfast!"_  their aunt replied.

_"Can't, we're already late as it is! And what happened to closing up shop for today?"_

_"Sorry, I couldn't help it! It's just that I saw the line up outside and I didn't have the heart to turn them away,"_  she explained with a bit of a wistful tone to her voice.  _"Don't worry, I told them that I'd be closing up within..."_

There was a pause in which Hiro assumed his aunt took the time to glance at the little cat clock hung on the mantle.

 _"...Ten minutes."_  She finished in a disbelieving tone.  _"Holy smokes we're late!"_

Hiro rolled his eyes and glanced down to the hand holding the half-eaten Boston cream. The teen smiled mischievously. Maybe he didn't have to finish the donut after all. With a flick of his wrist, Hiro placed the pastry into a brown paper bag and rolled the top shut.

Hiro stepped out of the bakery, the door swinging shut behind him. He walked up to his older brother and lifted the arm holding the paper bag. "Here, breakfast," he deadpanned.

Tadashi pulled an expression identical to Aunt Cass's moments before, but nevertheless took the bag out of his hands. "Thanks..."

"No problem," the teen mumbled. Something heavy landed on Hiro's head. When he looked up from underneath his bangs, he saw it was his older brother's hand.

"We should get going if we don't want to be late for sign-in."

The younger Hamada looked away and rocked back on his heels. A breathless huff of laughter left him as he bounced on the balls of his toes. "I actually... I have something to do! I- um, have to make some...  _adjustments_  to the microbots!"

Tadashi looked puzzled. "Didn't you make the final adjustments yesterday?"

Hiro nodded frantically, dislodging his brother's hand from its usual spot tangled in his nest of hair. "Yeah, but I just remembered that I forgot to add a feature that I meant to add once I was done!" he lied smoothly.

"Hiro, you have thousands of those things; you won't make it in time-"

"I promise I'll make it before the actual presentation, so can you sign in for me? Come to pick me up at, like, ten-thirty!"

Tadashi gave a befuddled nod and Hiro rushed back upstairs to grab his admission ticket they had bought the week before. He swept it off the desk, the placement just where he remembered putting it – next to Megabot.

Rushing down the stairs, Hiro jumped over the last two steps and back into the café. When he looked up however, the teen froze.

A pool of warmth filled his chest when he caught sight of the long forgotten scene of his aunt giving Tadashi a bone-crushing hug.

It made him happy – the thought of all three of them together again.

A weight suddenly settled on Hiro's shoulders and dropped a stone down his stomach.

That was right - if his dreams were happening all over again, this could be the last normal morning he would share with both Aunt Cass and Tadashi.

The dread that crawled up his scalp just thinking about tonight's possible events made Hiro's chest feel like it would collapse and implode.

Fire flashed in his vision and a stab of fear pulsed through him. He didn't want that – anything but that.

Hiro blinked and the yellows, oranges, and  _redredred_ s disappeared.

In a daze, he walked up to Tadashi – who was trapped in Aunt Cass' second hug – and wrapped his arms around his brother just as Cass let go; leaving them to attend to more customers gathering at the cash register.

Tadashi's muscles twitched under Hiro's arms, his older brother tensing slightly in shock before he mellowed. Lean arms wriggled out of his bear hug and came around to drape over the top of the younger of the two's shoulders to squeeze him just right.

Hiro would never openly admit it to anyone – much less to Tadashi himself – but it was in these two arms that Hiro felt the safest. Baymax was warm and familiar, sure. But the feel of his brother's heat and warmth and smell – all of it meant reassurance and support and unconditional love.

(Tadashi was there when his parents suddenly stopped coming home; Tadashi was there when they stood in the rain, watching as two boxes – that Hiro only recognized were the coffins of their parents when he turned four – were lowered into the ground.

He was there when nightmares plagued Hiro's sleep; was there when the bullies came out to play; he never missed a single chance to save him when his younger brother screwed up; he was even there when Hiro skipped grades and won trophies.)

No matter what, his older brother was there for the good times in Hiro's life and the bad times, too.

Tadashi was  _always there_  and Hiro had taken that for granted the first time. So now the thought of having to repeat tonight...

Hiro tried his best to ingrain the feeling of this hug in case he failed. (Failure was not an option in Hiro's books, but fate was not something that was written using an HB pencil).

One of the hands on his back came up to ruffle his hair –  _again_  – and Hiro pulled back just enough to look into his brother's face. The younger Hamada so desperately wanted to say something sappy, like, "Don't leave me," or "Just stay a little longer," or even "Don't let go. Don't go anywhere tonight. Ignore everyone and stay home with me."

Callaghan was at SFIT, and judging by the time frame, Abigail's accident would have already happened. Hiro didn't want his brother anywhere near the institute, much less the revenge-driven psychopath disguised as a teacher.

Instead, Hiro peeled himself out of the two arms he didn't want to leave behind and glanced at the small slip of paper with his name and the presentation time on it. The words  **'Exhibitor Show Case Participant'**  was written in bold letters on the top.

The black letters glared mockingly back up at him, and when the paper crumpled a bit, Hiro knew he was holding the ticket a little too tightly in his fist.

The younger Hamada took a silent breath and offered up the admission slip.

As soon as the exchange of hands was made, Tadashi was off like a rocket, rushing down the sidewalk to catch the passing cable car.

Hiro watched his brother until he turned the corner, the lingering " _I'm off!_ " still ringing in his ears.

* * *

**Omake:**

Tadashi found an empty seat on the cable car and eagerly sat down after seeing there were no elderly ladies, pregnant women or children who needed it.

He was really hungry, and eating wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do when you were standing and swaying into other people, regardless if your breakfast was a donut or not.

Still, Tadashi regretted not having his moped with him to take to the institute – being on 'steady probation' and having his licence revoked for a month by the police (thanks to Hiro's little bot fighting stunt) was not the way he thought it would be lost.

Seriously, sometimes Hiro was-

_Mommy, why does that man has clothes that don't fit him?_

For some reason, the young voice whispering in a conspiratorial tone caught his attention.

The answering hiss made him look over to a mother scornfully shushing her son and whispering back in an urgent tone, "Shh, Timmy, we don't talk about things like that in public. He probably just has some issues."

Tadashi startled when he saw the mother glance surreptitiously in his direction. What had he done wrong?

Her gaze was a bit off to Tadashi's left, and though it wasn't focused on his face, he could tell it was still him that was being scrutinized. Tadashi moved his eyes to follow her line of sight and was surprised to find that it landed on his left arm-

_Draped in Hiro's clothes._

The older Hamada let out a quiet yelp and rushed to stuff the articles into his messenger bag. He had forgotten to give his little brother his change of clothes before he left! Now some mother thought he was some... some sort of-!

If he weren't in public right about now, Tadashi would have let out a wail of frustration. Instead, he settled down with a steady blush and furrowed brows.

Sometimes his brother was a real pain.

The twenty year old let out a breath. At the very least, Tadashi was thankful he had enough patience to say that he still loved Hiro no matter the hardships.

The young adult withheld another sigh and pulled out the paper bag his brother handed to him just a few minutes ago. From the smell wafting from it, he could tell it was a Boston cream – Aunt Cass' most popular donut.

A loud growl came from his stomach, and Tadashi bashfully glanced around the cart hoping no one heard. No one did.

Fumbling a bit with the packaging now, he hastily unrolled the top and reached into the bag and pulled out his donut-

Only to find it half eaten.

And from the size of the bites, Tadashi could tell it was Hiro who was munching down on it before him. His stomach groaned pitifully and he gulped down the whole thing in one go.

His stomach moaned its opinion on the meagre meal and Tadashi took back his words:

His little brother was just a pain in the butt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can anyone explain to me how I managed to get aboard the Hidashi ship? At first I was like, 'OK, brotherly love...' But honestly? I ship it so hard it physically hurts. I am trash (very large incest trash).


	4. Down The Rabbit Hole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you concerned with the Hidashi (pls read lol):
> 
> I may be a Hidashi shipper, but this story is supposed to stay true to the Big Hero 6 vibe. It will have plenty of undercurrents of Hidashi - oh trust me - but it will not go past anything platonic (pats on the head, hugs when needed, protective behaviour, etc).
> 
> The main focus, I guess, would be how Hiro is forced to relive his grief in a different light - the light of Tadashi's eyes. It'll give insight on the brothers' relationship and how dependent they were on each other and how Hiro can grow out of it and become a hero for the person who was always his idol.
> 
> If the original movie was centered around dealing with grief, then I suppose this fic would be about how Hiro deals with regrets...
> 
> I dunno.
> 
> Just keep in mind there will be angst. Lots of it.
> 
> *Long distance yodelling* /Brace yourselves/

Hiro stared vacantly as cars slipped past the windows of the café, his mind drawing a blank.

Tadashi had just left. He had just let Tadashi slip through his fingers and back to the place where he had _died_.

A wave of nausea hit the teen, and Hiro lurched forward, making as if to run out the door and after his brother. The younger Hamada's hand touched the handle when his body froze, his rational mind finally kicking in.

"Wasn't I..." Hiro breathed to himself, shoulders tensing. _Supposed to feign ill?_

The teen grit his teeth. He was so caught up in the panic of not going back to that school that he had sent Tadashi out there without him – the only person who _knew_ about the things to come.

Hiro's eyes squeezed shut and his head fell forward to bang on the glass door repeatedly. For all that he was a genius, he was a real idiot sometimes!

Why did he have to go and say he was making adjustments to the microbots!? He should have just said he wasn't feeling well and they would have stayed home.

Hiro's brain took another turn and the teen froze, the sudden thought of, _Maybe it's safer this way. If I was never there in the first place, Callaghan wouldn't have gotten my microbots,_ flashing into existence.

Yeah, that made sense.

Just as quickly, it was replaced with, _Wait, Tadashi's still coming back for me at ten-thirty!_

Hiro slapped a hand over his eyes. Great. The science fair at SFIT technically started at 11am, and with a quick glance at the cat clock from between his fingers, Hiro confirmed it was presently 7:58am.

Now he had two and a half – almost three – hours to kill, and he _still_ had to go to the showcase! He really, _really_ hadn't been thinking on this one!

"What's going on big guy?" Aunt Cass asked from beside him.

"Whoa-!" Hiro jumped and twisted to look at his aunt. "Wha-what...?" He managed to croak out around his heart beating in his throat.

Aunt Cass settled her hands on her hips. "You seem to be having some sort of crisis there," she said as she shifted her weight onto her right leg.

"Your face is all..." Cass lifted her hands so they were poised beside her head in "claws" and pulled a face, her eyes crossing. "Conflicted," she concluded, that familiar goofy smile slipping back in place.

Hiro looked at his aunt incredulously as she turned on a heel and slipped back to her place behind the café's counter, hands already working at fulfilling people's orders. Hiro followed in after her.

"What...? Conflicted? I'm not-" The teen shook his head and sighed heavily, shoulders slumping.

"M'not conflicted, okay Aunt Cass? I just-... I have a lot of things on my mind," Hiro ended with a half-hearted shrug.

Cass didn't look at him directly, instead turning her face to him and keeping her eyes on the customer in front of her while working the cash register simultaneously.

"I know sweetie," she said with a quick, wistful glance at his pout. She bumped him using her hip and chirped, "But don't think too hard about it. Sometimes the answer is right in front of you, but you can't see it 'cause you're looking in all the wrong places. The answer will come to you eventually."

The teen looked at his feet. _The answer will come to me_ , he mouthed. Hiro looked back up at his aunt – ever supportive and warm.

The edges around the younger Hamada's eyes softened with love. Sometimes his Aunt Cass could say some really neat things...

"Thanks Aunt Cass," he mumbled, looking up at her shyly through his bangs. This sappy thing was _sooo_ not-

Cass pulled him into a quick hug. "You're welcome. Now don't go hurting that big brain of yours." She shooed at him and nudged the teen in the direction of the garage. "You'll need it if you want to get that acceptance letter!" she called.

Hiro rolled his eyes as he walked away, squeals of "My little college men!" echoing after him.

* * *

The teen returned to his thoughts the moment he set foot into the impromptu workshop. Okay, now was the time to focus. Hiro closed his eyes and took in a breath, holding it for a few seconds to center himself before he let it slip out of him. The teen blinked open his eyes.

Right – Answers... He needed answers. And fast.

Hiro had almost three hours to kill – not a lot of time until his brother's supposed end. The younger Hamada grimaced. He would have to use his time wisely to find some clues as to what the hell was going on around him.

But how? _How_? Better yet, _who_ could give him answers? The only person who he knew and could rely on to give him straight out facts was-

A figurative light bulb went off over Hiro's head. _Baymax! I can ask Baymax!_

In a flurry of motion, Hiro was already pulling on a stray hoodie that was lying on his computer chair, mounting his bike and completely ready to leave behind the preparation of his microbots when he stopped abruptly and frowned.

Ugh, why was he so stupid today? If no one in this second reality had remembered, then how could Baymax?

Baymax was a machine. He only had memories of those in his chip. He wasn't operating on anything complicated like the human brain. He couldn't mysteriously pull up memories like a human mind could. He was a robot.

Hiro grit his teeth in frustration for a second before a melancholic smile pulled into existence on his lips. A forlorn sigh left him.

Baymax may have been a robot, but he was still Hiro's friend - One of his best friends at that. And if it turned out this Baymax wasn't the one he remembered, then he'd just have to teach the healthcare companion what it meant to be a little bit "human" again.

Besides, a little visit wouldn't hurt, right?

Hiro glanced down at his watch. He still had time.

* * *

Sneaking into his lab-

Tadashi's lab, if he thought about it.

 _Our lab_ , his brain whispered in the silence. The thought of it was sudden and real, the image so colourful and vivid, it blindsided the genius for a good few seconds.

Hiro's hand hovered hesitantly above the keypad. This was Tadashi's lab right now. And if Hiro could change whatever _might_ happen tonight, it would be _their_ lab from then on.

The younger Hamada's heart pounded in his ears.

Could- could he do it...? Make that reality come true?

The sudden re-realization of his long-buried dream was brought to the surface. Back then – _was it really so long ago?_ – Hiro's only dream had been to get into SFIT and then work on projects with Tadashi that could change the world – no, the _universe_.

The teen's gut twisted and his stomach flip-flopped when he thought of the reason why that dream had been taken away from him; he could feel that hollow, angry pain ache in his chest – in a place that had never quite healed completely – and wondered absently if this time around he could finally fill it in.

Fill it in with his brother's presence and his unconditional love and new memories of them together. Memories that this time would have him, Tadashi and Baymax and Aunt Cass and Mochi and the gang; it took his breath away and made his lungs burn.

Maybe- maybe he could do it. Unless Callaghan... No no no, he _wouldn't_.

Hiro felt his legs start to tremble, going weak like flimsy pieces of ramen noodles and his arms turn to jelly. His lungs felt like they were full of water-

It took a lot of mental slapping for Hiro to get his body back under control – to force it to _breathe_. A wheezing gust of air rattled out of him, a shiver running down his back.

Now wasn't the time. He was running on a tight schedule at the moment. He could break down later, but at the moment there was too much at stake.

The teen quickly punched four numbers into the lock. Thankfully, the passcode was predictable and had not changed since Hiro had first guessed it from the "dream" reality: it was his and Tadashi's birthdays.

A small green light blinked and a tinny, affirmative beep rang out in the silence. The doors slid open with a mechanical hiss.

Welp, this was it.

Making a tentative move forward, the teen thanked whatever gods were up there that no one was around in the main tech lab or personal offices. All of the students were either busy with the convention in the SFIT showcase building (Hiro shivered at the memory) or in class at the moment - Tadashi and the gang included.

Stepping into the center of his brother's personalized workroom, Hiro waited for the doors to close on their own before he muttered into the darkened room a quiet, but audible, "Ow...?"

Directly in front of him, a white circle flickered to life, the soft light helping Hiro locate the little suitcase Baymax charged in. In the pitch black, there was the sound of something rapidly inflating, and then the squeak of two balloons rubbing against each other. The sound came closer.

There was a slight whir – Baymax turning on his night vision and focusing on him. "Hello, I am Baymax. Your personal healthcare companion."

Even without the lights on, the younger Hamada could envision the way the robot would raise his hand and wave it in a small, circular motion just as he always did. Hiro smiled despite himself.

The teen took two steps back and reached his right hand out behind him, fumbling for the switch that opened the electronic blinds. He knew it was around here somewhere...

A small click resounded within the room and light flooded the office, making Hiro squint when the sun from outside glared off of Baymax's white vinyl covering.

The nurse bot tilted his head to observe Hiro and switched back to normal vision, blinking slowly. "I heard a sound of distress. What seems to be the trouble, Hiro?"

One of the boy's eyebrows raised. Huh. Baymax knew his name. Hiro swallowed thickly. That could mean two things. One, Baymax still had his previous memories, or two, the dream proved true and Tadashi had brought him here after that one bot fight incident to guide him to a better future.

The younger Hamada frowned slightly. Was it just him or had his life suddenly turned into a multiple choice test where one wrong answer could make his nightmares come true?

"Hiro?" The nursebot inquired gently when he received no immediate response. The teen looked up into that familiar expressionless face and chuckled low under his breath.

"It's nothing. I just wanted to see you buddy... Fist bump?" he asked, holding up an outstretched hand, almost as if to go for a handshake.

Here came the real test. If this really _was_ his Baymax...

The marshmallow robot swivelled his head to observe Hiro's right arm almost uncomprehendingly. Something in the boy sank and bubbled in anxiety.

As if spurred on by the change in his emotional state, Baymax lifted his own pudgy appendage to level it with the teen's.

Hiro's heart pounded in his ears.

What happened next seemed to go by in a blur. They slapped hands. A bit faster now, they did a back hand. Hiro formed a fist and held it out eagerly. Baymax blinked once and closed his fingers into the same position and rotated his wrist so it was oriented the right way.

They softly touched their knuckles together and...

"Balalalalalala," they said in sync, wiggling their fingers as they drew back.

Time paused and a wide grin spread across Hiro's face. His heart soared. "Y-YES!" he screamed in triumph.

The teen fist pumped the air and jumped in excitement as he threw himself at Baymax, squeezing a loud, squeaky hug out of the healthcare robot.

"Your neuro-transmitter levels have increased, Hiro. This indicates you are happy."

Hiro couldn't help the Cheshire's grin that threatened to split his face in half. "I am; I really am, Baymax! _Oh_ , this is amazing! You really remember me, right?"

"Of course. You are my patient Hiro. I was programmed to protect-"

Hiro cut off the monotone lilt of that all-too familiar line with another squeaky hug and honest, delighted laughter.

This was Baymax. This was the Baymax who remembered. _His_ Baymax – not an empty husk of the bot he had shared his deepest feelings and emotions with. This was the same robot who represented Tadashi's legacy and Hiro's best friend.

There was no way a Baymax who had only just met him would know the primary moves to a fistbump; it hadn't even been in his data base before the fire!

Having the solidified proof standing right there in front of him made the teen's head spin dizzyingly.

The feeling of regaining a loss shot at Hiro's heart, crushing it with a bittersweet tang that made his throat close and eyes water. His body felt light, and indescribable happiness vibrated to the tips of his fingers and toes, making it feel like static was running through his veins.

Baymax didn't even bother to try and finish his abandoned sentence. Instead, he wrapped plump arms around the ecstatic teen. "There, there."

The younger Hamada pushed playfully at the robot's arm that was patting him and chuckled a little. "I'm not sad, Baymax. You don't have to reassure me."

"You are crying. Crying is a natural response to pain; it is alright to cry," Baymax reached out to him again, set on getting the teen back in his huggable arms for some physical reassurance.

Hiro smiled and allowed the bot to cuddle him with an amused roll of his eyes. Nevertheless, he wiped at his face with a sleeve. "These are tears of happiness, big guy. Learn the difference."

"I shall input 'Tears of Happiness' into my care giving database."

The teen scoffed benignly. "You do that."

" 'Tears of Happiness' has been saved." Baymax drew back, once again standing straight. "Your hormonal imbalance seems to have been stabilized. I can deactivate if you say you are satisfied with your care."

Something sour lingered in the back of Hiro's throat at the words. "What? No, don't deactivate; I have a few things I need you to do for me," he said, taking a few steps to the side to look up into the robotic nurse's eyes and point at him with a 'warning' finger.

Baymax blinked and tilted his head; the only signal Hiro would get that indicated he had the nurse bot's full attention. The younger Hamada straightened. "Show me your memories, Baymax. The most recent ones will do."

The bot looked down at his stomach, a rectangular patch of light flickering and lighting into existence on the stretched vinyl. On the screen, a still picture of Hiro walking to school with the gang crossing over an oriental bridge displayed.

"The date this picture was taken?" the teen prompted, eyes wide.

"This was taken at 8:06 am on Thursday, June 16th, 2054 - yesterday." Baymax looked to him and lifted a finger before continuing. "However, according to my connection to the internet, my internal date is wrong. I seem to be inoperable; please update my circuitry."

Hiro shook his head, lifting his hands up to gesture at Baymax to slow down. "Wait, back up. You said your date is wrong? Then what day is it?"

Of course he knew the answer to that, but the teen's mind whirred. Maybe visiting Baymax would give him the answers he was looking for after all.

"The date I am receiving by wifi indicates that it is currently June 16th, 2053 – exactly one year and one day in the past. My internal date says that it is currently-"

The teen clutched at his hair, once more interrupting the poor healthcare robot. "We went back in time?" he screeched breathlessly, puzzle pieces rapidly clicking into place.

If they went back in time, then that meant that Hiro's first theory had been correct. All the evidence was there – Baymax had even shown him visual verification that the whole fiasco was real; he was with the gang, walking to nerd school, and the date only solidified that proof.

Hiro paced in a circle, hand to his chin and feet scuffing at the concrete below him. "That- that explains why Tadashi... Why Tadashi is alive!" he exclaimed, head popping up.

Baymax shuffled over to him. "I do not understand. I was informed that once someone has died, they do not come back physically," the bot intoned, his head tilting to the side.

"They don't," Hiro answered brusquely, eyebrows drawing together.

There was a small pause in which the teen stalled his pacing to think about something and Baymax waited for him to speak up.

"Hey..." Hiro's voice died off. He wasn't sure how to phrase this question so that Baymax would understand.

Over the year that he had gotten to know Baymax after everything happened, he had learned the hard way that the personal healthcare companion wasn't the most knowledgeable on human expressions.

Sure Hiro had tried to download a chip that had contained a language software he had programmed himself, but that had only gotten him so far until Baymax had started addressing people as his "homies".

"What do you..." the teen started, trying to phrase his question carefully. He shook his head. "What do you suppose is the reason for our memories? D-did we really go into the past?"

Baymax didn't respond, instead roving his cameras over Hiro's form in a familiar action that the teen had come to expect from the nurse bot.

"Scan complete. My sensors have picked up a cellular rift in the time flow within your body, Hiro."

The younger Hamada blinked. He was smart, yes, but what Baymax had just said went right over his head. He turned his full attention to the robot.

"Meaning...?" he drifted off, indicating the nurse bot to continue with a roll of his wrist.

"There seems to be an external factor affecting the way your cells have aged. They appear to be degenerating to a previous state of being."

"So I'm basically de-aging?" Hiro asked incredulously once the words came together.

Baymax's head moved in a small nod and a balloon finger came up. "Precisely. You are presently one year younger."

A spike of alarm went up Hiro's spine.

The teen squinted suspiciously and asked hurriedly, "Am I still getting younger? Physically? What about my mental state?"

He wouldn't be able to change things if he was getting younger. He was confident he wouldn't lose too much intellect, but having a physically younger body would be frustrating to say the least.

"Negative. Your cells have resumed their proper cycle of life. Only your physical state seems to have been affected," Baymax affirmed.

Hiro heaved a sigh of relief and nodded along. That explained why he still had his memories.

"And... this _external factor_ you were talking about?"

Baymax tilted his head and spoke up. "I believe that the time flow is currently only going one way. Your body's aging process is not conflicted."

"Not conflicted?" Hiro questioned.

The nurse bot ignored him and went on with his analysis. "Based on this information, I theorize that the malfunctioning of the portal Alistair Krei made during the first timeline has connected to the one of this time, therefore bringing us back in time."

Like a flash of lighting, connections were made, synapses firing off in the genius' brain. Hiro gasped. "A worm hole! That's it! The last portal that we entered was the one that Callaghan fixed, a-and the Krei from this reality probably activated it, therefore inadvertently connecting them across planes!"

Hiro ran a hand through his hair, charged with nervous energy. "That's why it's just you and me...! We went into that portal - and for some reason, it's sending us backwards!"

Another thought struck him like lightning. "So what would happen if we go back into that repaired-by-Callaghan portal in this timeline?" he asked himself, not really expecting a response.

"By my calculations, we may end up in the first future," Baymax deadpanned.

A dry grimace pulled on the teen's lips. "So we have a chance to go back, huh?"

The younger Hamada was hit with a sudden vision of his older brother as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

_Tadashi..._

It wasn't that Hiro wanted to go back to a world without his brother per se, but the repercussions if he didn't...

Hiro sighed tiredly – this was too complicated. He needed time to stew this entire situation over in his head and think of solutions; look at it from another angle.

For now, he would stick to worrying about the present and near future. And when he meant near, he meant _near_. As in, tonight, an event that had traumatized Hiro for life was confirmed to repeat itself.

The teen spun on his heel and walked to the doors, opening them before clicking the off switch for the electronic blinds and looking over his shoulder.

Hiro jerked his head towards the corridor, the LED lights allowing him to see Baymax's marshmallow figure in the dark of his brother's office. "C'mon big guy, we're going home – we have some stuff to do."

Once the healthcare companion was out of the room, Hiro poked Baymax in the stomach, a weary grin on his face. "But first, you're gonna need some upgrades."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'm baaaack! Miss me? :3


End file.
